15 Dec Apply for the 2026 JB Poetry Fellowship!
Applications for the 2026 Just Buffalo Poetry Fellowship are officially open as of today, December 15, 2025!
Each year, Just Buffalo invites adult poets of all ages and stages of their career to apply for its Poetry Fellowship, which gives one talented writer a cash stipend to live and write in one of the nation’s most vibrant literary cities, plus an opportunity to read at an event curated by Just Buffalo Literary Center.
The Fellowship Award
- A $2,000 stipend
- One month of free lodging during August
- An opportunity to read at the Silo City Reading Series
Important Dates for the 2026 JB Poetry Fellowship
Application Deadline: Saturday, February 28, 2026 @ 11:59 p.m.
Residency Period: August 2026
How to Apply
Guidelines for applying and submitting applications are available at Submittable, at the link below:
Applications will be reviewed in March and early April, with the Fellow and all applicants notified of status by the end of April. A public announcement will follow.
Eligibility Requirements
- Applicants must be 21 years or older
- A completed application must be received by 11:59 p.m. on the deadline (incomplete applications will NOT be considered)
- Past or present employees of Just Buffalo Literary Center are NOT eligible to apply
Our 2026 Judge: Tarfia Faizullah
TARFIA FAIZULLAH is the author of two poetry collections, Registers of Illuminated Villages (Graywolf, 2018) and Seam (SIU, 2014). Tarfia’s writing appears widely in the U.S. and abroad in the Daily Star, Hindu Business Line, BuzzFeed, PBS News Hour, Huffington Post, Poetry Magazine, Ms. Magazine, the Academy of American Poets, Oxford American, the New Republic, the Nation, Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket, 2019), and has been displayed at the Smithsonian, the Rubin Museum of Art, and elsewhere. Born in Brooklyn, NY to Bangladeshi immigrants and raised in Texas, Tarfia currently lives in Dallas.
The JB Poetry Fellowship
Visit our Poetry Fellowship page to learn more!